Chasing Storms
by Flek Siner
Summary: A tempest is coming. The storm of the century will leave only destruction in its wake. Four Jaeger teams, the Storm Chasers, are charged with taking the front lines against it.
1. Fun with Jimmy (Gathering Storms Part 1)

A set of twins sat in a featureless elevator box, watching the lights go up with each consecutive floor. They were practically identical, despite their difference in gender; each with a young, face topped with chestnut brown hair. The male of the pair ran a thin hand through his short, mussed hair to alleviate his growing stress. He looked at the glowing, digital clock hanging from the ceiling. Monday June 19, 2020; 3:14 a.m. The woman sitting next to him put her hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"Ozzy, everything'll be fine," the woman spoke calmly.

"You don't know that, sis," his head turned to her, a grimace stretched over his pale face.

"Yeah I do!" Her voice became instantaneously perky. "Now just calm down!" The woman embraced her brother lovingly. Oswald sighed from his sister's excitement. She was always like this, even in the face of danger.

The twins sat for several long minutes, trying to enjoy each other's company, before the door opened up with an ominous digital beep. A large military type stepped into the box. He held a silver clipboard under his arm.

"Oswald! Penelope! We're ready for you. Please step into Drive Suit room! You will be briefed as you are outfitted!" The man stepped to the side.

Oswald looked at his sister with worried eyes. She smiled at him, showing all of her pearly, white teeth. Oswald noted how her straitened teeth looked under the fluorescents lighting the elevator. They looked so different without the braces. She'd already had them off for a few months, but it was hard to picture her without those bits of metal that lined her mouth.

"Come on! Let's do this!" Penelope exclaimed while pulling at her brother's arm. She yanked him up, pulling him into the Drive Suit room.

The room was much darker in comparison to the brightly lit elevator. Most of the light came from electronics and shining machinery lining the room. Penelope stared in wonder at the switches, screens, and other unknown technologies all over the chamber. Her brother's eyes were fixated on the two hanging rectangular cases at the end of room. Drive Suit containers. They began moving towards the twins, like they'd been waiting for them.

Oswald quickly turned to his sister as several technicians began to prep them for dressing. "I don't think I can do this," he whispered erratically.

Penelope's smile dropped from her face. She turned and grabbed her brother's shoulders. Her voice became very stern, "Oswald. Ozzy. Oz-Bro. You can do this. I can do this. We can do this, together. Just trust me. Okay?" She gave him a hopeful smile.

The cases stopped in front of them, opening with a snake's hiss. Oswald turned to the case, then his sister, then the case. He took a deep breath and looked into his sisters eyes.

"Okay," he mustered, "Let's do this."

"Yay!" Penelope yelped and gave her twin a crushing bear hug.

"P-Pen! Too hard! Too hard!"

A technician tapped on Penelope's shoulder. She gave them a raised eyebrow. "You both ready?"

"Oh!" she let go of her brother, "Right! Suit me up!"

"Y-Yeah. What she said," Oswald tried to copy his sister's enthusiasm.

The technicians motioned them to stand in front of the cases. Inside the hanging boxes were indigo, shell-like pieces of armor. The techs moved to and from the case, pulling pieces out as they went and attaching them to the twins. Each part slotted into place and was bolted into the under suits of the twins.

The techs efficiently suited each of the pilots up in remarkable time, only four minutes from start to finish. A helmet was handed to each of them as the final, centipede-looking, piece was slotted over their spinal columns. Both twins stretched and swiveled their arms around to get a feel for the suits. They had only put these on for training exercises before. They somehow felt different from then; like the safety the suits provided actually mattered for a change.

After their helmets were in place the twins were ushered to a large metal door. Hazard signs and warning labels dotted its surface. It opened slowly, its locks being deactivated by another, entirely separate, team. Inside was low lit chamber covered in computer screens. In the center were two piloting rigs, one facing the opposite direction of the other.

"You got my back, bro?" Penelope asked her brother.

"Always," he responded.

The techs helped them into the rigs' harnesses and then moved from the chamber as they finished. A control pad rose from the floor into each of their hands. Oswald gripped his pad tightly; he didn't have to, but it helped his nervousness.

Penelope ran her armored hand over her control yoke like she would an old pet. She had been waiting for this day for months. Her first combat with the only person she would ever even dream of doing it with. She arched her head as best as she could to look at her brother.

"You good?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm good. We can do this." He cracked a shaky smile at her. She returned it with a toothy grin.

"Okay boys! We're are ready to rock!" She yelled into the intercom overhead. The screens in front of both of them came to life, showing a series of readouts on their machines diagnostics. A voice called into the chamber.

_"Hello Pen. Ozzy. You two ready for your first hunt?"_ The voice was warm and feminine.

"Jenny! I didn't know they'd let you do this operation!" Penelope answered.

_"I pulled some strings to see my two favorite twins fight for the first time. How 'bout you Ozzy? You alive in there?"_

Oswald rolled his eyes at the operations manager's sarcastic tone. "Yes, Jennifer. I'm fine. How are you? Still nursing that hangover from yesterday?" Oswald's voice was equally smarmy.

_"Yep, you're alive,"_ Jennifer sighed into the intercom, _"I recognize that condescension anywhere."_ Jennifer was in a room filled with every sort of people that might be needed during the fight. Military commanders, technicians, and even more operation managers just waiting to help chime in with some kind of brake through, lifesaving advise. Jennifer wouldn't let them have that chance. She was better than to let some newbie intern take her job on the twin's first assignment.

The kindly woman straightened herself in front of the large display in front of her. A holographic display covered in every kind of information and statistic that might have been needed during a Kaiju fight. Jennifer pressed into the intercom.

_"Okay guys, let's get started. Your target is a class two beasty, it's been code named Godhead. You'll find out why when you see it."_

Penelope frowned in the Jaeger chamber. "Godhead? That sounds dumb. Is it a head, or a god?"

"Pen, does it matter? Let's just get on with this."

"But Oz! It's dumb!" she whined.

_"Yeah, let's go. We can all debate on the Kaiju naming board's taste later, okay?"_ Jennifer said in an exasperated tone.

"Aww! Fine! But this isn't over! I want a new name!" Penelope defiantly yelled into the com. The sounds of servos starting up and clamps being released filled the chamber as she yelled. The chamber they were in, the head of their Jaeger, began to drop down the tube leading to its body.

Oswald closed his eyes as they fell. It didn't help his nerves, but he thought it might. His sister couldn't help but smile at the rush of falling. She always had loved the Hellevator at the carnivals back home, and this was ten times better.

Their burst of adrenaline faded when the head was slotted onto the Jaeger's body, completing it. Tornado Backstab was a Mark 2 Jaeger, built for speed and high damage, at the cost of less armor. Its gunmetal gray hull accepted its head openly and connected the necessary wires and clamps automatically.

The twins had been introduced to their Jaeger seven months ago. Once they had graduated their pilot training they had been moved to the Pacific City Shatterdome on the coast of Oregon, their home state. They had spent many a summer on the beaches of their home, hanging around their multitude of family members.

The head of Tornado Backstab spun into place and finally stopped as the last bits of metal stuck into each other. Each twin looked into their screen in anticipation. This was it. Their trial by fire.

An electronic voice came from the screens before them, _"Initiating mental drift." _The Merton twins felt their minds link into one as the emotionless AI spoke to them. The memories of long summer nights by the fire with their weird uncle passed through the stream. Penelope's several failed attempts at a love life fell back over her thoughts. Oswald's nights alone with old books, weird stores. and musty libraries came back to them. He never identified well with the other children around them like Pen.

Oswald saw his sister, a younger version of her. She was running through the woods with him. They were playing a game of pretend, trying to escape from an imagined threat. She was smiling at him. Showing off her brand new braces, and all the colorful rubber bands in the brackets. He saw the day she got them off. More friends appeared around her after they were removed. She went out more, leaving him behind…..

"Oz! Focus! You're drifting!" Penelope felt her brother's mind leaving the stream.

"Huh…. Uh, right! Sorry!"

"We can do this bro," her voice was sure.

"W-We can do this," he parroted.

Oswald shook the old memories from their conjoined psyches. Being bogged down by the mental stream was one of the first things they told you about when you became a pilot. How to block out the unneeded thoughts was the first lesson of class.

_"We're opening the doors kids, get ready,"_ Jen activated the door controls, and released the Jaeger into the world.

The gigantic door in front of them opened with the sound of grinding gears. Penelope noted it as another in a series of metal doors opening for her that day. She wondered if it was always like that. Her view screen showed her the Pacific Ocean in the middle of an early morning. The stars were still out, but the sun would soon rip back into the sky overhead.

Oswald watched from a much smaller screen behind Penelope. Tornado Backstab was built on a principle of "Never let them get behind you". It was given two faces, one on each side of the head. Both faces had two stacked eyes on the either right or left sides of its duel faces. One pilot watched the front, the other behind, looking out for threats on either side. Each pilot could see a smaller version of what the other could see from the camera's on the head of the Jaeger.

Oswald loved the sea, it helped him think. Looking at the blue expanse was one of the few things that truly calmed him down, the only other being his sister's calming voice. He began to sequence his movements with his twin as they moved out into the dark waters.

The double faced Jaeger had to be controlled very carefully by its pilots. Since one of the pilots was always facing the rear it became even harder to move in unison. It took several months before the PPDC could find a pair of pilots with enough compatibility to control the Jaeger's duel visage.

Penelope moved her left foot forward into the cold waters below. Oswald, completely instep, continued the pair's locomotion without a second thought. The twin's movements within the Jaeger was an odd sight, each looking like they were trying to move away from each other.

They moved deeper into the Pacific, looking for their quarry.

They heard the Kaiju before they saw it. A cacophony of shrieking entered the cockpit of the Jaeger, and bombarded their eardrums. Both twins felt the pressure from the heavy decibels on their bodies'; if this was a part of the Kaiju's attack than it was working. Oswald almost fell out of step because of the agonizing screams.

"This thing is killing me," Oswald moaned.

"You're telling me. I'm gonna need one of those ear implant, thingies after this," she moaned in similar irritation.

"A cochlear implant?"

"Ughgh!" She groaned, "That's it. Hey! Hey! I think I see it!"

In the distance a large shadow was bobbing the water like a misshapen buoy. The operators back at the Shatterdome enhanced the camera's view to see the beast. Its appearance was fitting to the name it was given.

A gigantic oval was floating in the water. It looked akin to a human head; that is if you squinted, and you were just hit with over the head with a brick. The greenish-blue carapace of most Kaiju covered its form. An uncountable amount of limbs jutted from its egg-like form in all directions. They were spiderlike, each leg ending in a long, oozing spike.

_"This thing has been making erratic movements since it came out of the Breach. It doesn't even seem like it's trying to get to the mainland. But that doesn't mean it's not dangerous," _Jen warned over the intercom,_ "It's already taken out three fishing boats since it came through. Scans show that, that slime coming from its legs is highly radioactive, and possibly corrosive. Try not to let it touch you."_

"Yes Jennifer, we will definitely not touch the monstrous Kaiju and let it continue floating on like a beach buoy," Oswald sarcastically commented.

_"You know what I meant!"_

"This is the so called 'Godhead'? Uh-uh. I'm not letting that slide. That name so does not fit," Penelope said.

"Pen, we talked about this. Later."

"Nope, this has to be done now. It'll bug me otherwise." She thought to herself for a moment. And in the mental stream, Oswald got a glimpse of her name ideas.

"Really Penelope?" Her brother sighed, "Jimmy? You think that fits this abomination?"

"Yep! Jimmy! Jimmy Jimmersworth the 15th! It's perfect!" Both her brother and the operator's booth were silent.

_"Oookay…. Well now that, that's out of the way," _Jennifer said, taking control of the situation. Her voice became like the cold AI's, _"Begin combat. Neutralize the target before it reaches land. Use any tactic you see fit to eradicate the threat." _Both twin's faces hardened as their operator gave the kill order.

"Eject arm blades," Penelope said to the Jaeger's AI program.

_"Arm blades ejected," _the AI echoed. A small logo of two blades appeared in the twin's visual screens. Five thin blades ejected from the back of the Jaeger's hands and connected into a pair of flat wrist mounted knives.

Tornado Backstab was placed into a combat position. It moved toward the screeching Kaiju. One of the Kaiju's eyes, of which it had five, spied at the oncoming threat. Its shrieking halted suddenly, its oval body stopped bobbing up and became still in the water.

It rolled over onto what was probably its standing position and then charged the armed Jaeger. Its screams resumed from its gaping, toothless maw. "Jimmy" shoved four of its spindly limbs into the gray shell of Tornado Backstab, but was met with air as the mech quickly dodged the assault.

The twins moved around the Kaiju with the agility their Jaeger's small frame provided. It moved forward to the head and stabbed down into it. The interconnected blades cut into the algae colored carapace. The Kaiju's scream of battle turned into one of pain as it tried to rear around to the cause of its agony.

"Beginning throw," Penelope stated.

"Beginning throw," Oswald returned.

The Jaeger stabbed deeper into the flesh of the beast. It twisted its blades inward and began lifting the Class 2 invader. The hydraulics of Tornado Backstab strained to pick up the multi-ton beast into the air. "Jimmy" screamed even louder as it was removed from its aquatic home.

"Now!" both twins yelled. The Jaeger dislodged its blades from the Kaiju as it chucked it into the sea. The oblong Kaiju hit the water with a crash and sunk down deep into the waters. The twins activated its front and back headlights to search for the fallen monster.

_"Why'd you throw it?!" _Jennifer yelled incredulously.

Penelope shrugged, "It seemed like a good idea at the time! It was supposed to be like a wrestling move you know."

_"You've been trained in three different forms of martial arts and you go for WWE!"_

"It sounded better in our heads, I'll admit," Oswald conceded.

A large shadow moved around them to the "back" of the Jaeger. The Godhead sprung from the deep, its spider legs stretched forward, and lunged at the Jaeger. Oswald saw it coming.

"Switching sides," he stated.

"Switching sides," his sister agreed.

The lights on Oswald's side flashed instantly. The joints of the Jaeger swiveled and turned to face the attacking Kaiju. The Jaeger showed Jimmy its name sake. The blades ejected from its wrists once again and stabbed into the Kaiju. The Godhead's pushing attack stopped in its tracks and began shrieking once more in pain. The twins continued to stab in and out into the screaming Kaiju. It pulled the blades from its now punctured carapace and pressed its heavy, metal foot onto the beast.

It began pressing down on the beast as it screamed before it face and its entire body cracked and chipped into pieces. Tornado Backstab continued to press into the Kaiju until the twins were sure it was going to be getting back up again.

"And all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Oswald quipped.

_"You too with the names?" _Jennifer sighed.

"Oooh! I like that one! Okay so its name is officially Jimmy Humpty "The Godhead" Jimmersworth the 15th Dumpty!"

Oswald face palmed, "I should have kept my mouth shut."

The Godhead's decimated carcass sunk deeper into the deep of the ocean, its oozing blood contaminating the water along the way. As it hit the sea's floor, the Kaiju's body began cracking and falling apart.

Inside the egg was a glowing blob, undulating in the water. It floated out of its, now dead, housing, and began moving across the ocean floor.


	2. Troll Hunt (Gathering Storms Part 2)

A young woman was reading on-top of an unshared bunk bed. Her short red hair was splayed over her pillow, sticking slightly over the bed's metal frame. She flicked her well-manicured nails through a glossy covered magazine. A gasp escaped her lips as she read over the article that took up the book's first couple of pages. Her slim fingers gripped the latest edition of the Jaeger Monthly News Report tighter as she continued to read.

"The Jaeger Monthly News Report" started as a military pamphlet given out to those in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps at the beginning of the Kaiju War. The UN thought it would be a good idea to keep the entire military force informed about what was happening in the war, even if they weren't directly involved with It contained small excerpts on the Jaegers being sent out into the field, their pilots, and the occasional page dedicated to the invading Kaiju.

The publication proved wildly popular in the Corps, eventually spread over to the civilian population with the help of the internet. With the already rock star-like status of the pilots the miniscule pamphlet naturally turned into a magazine with more readers than any other publication in the world.

Evangeline Keating, the woman on the bed, face visibly deflated upon finishing the article. The top of the page read "Gypsy Danger Pilot Taken Out by Arctic Terror: Knifehead!" Yancy Becket, the deceased pilot, had been killed in a surprise attack by the Category 3 Kaiju. His brother, Raleigh, had survived the battle, and even managed to finish the Kaiju off before their Jaeger went offline.

Evangeline piloted a Jaeger with her own twin, Chloe, so she knew even the thought of losing a twin could be extremely damaging. Chloe was still alive, but Eva had seen her hurt. Seen her almost not make it; it could really mess with a girl's head.

Fellow twin empathy aside, it was always a sad day when a Jaeger pilot died. Yancy Becket would probably get a holiday named after him, like the rest of the dead. A statue would get put up in his honor at the Jaeger Memorial Center.

Eva put her magazine to the side, and jumped from the top bunk to the cold floor. She walked out of her room and started down the long metal corridor. She had been living at the Sydney Shatterdome for over a month now, having been moved there from her home in Ireland. The UN had centers set up all over the world, holding drifting tests almost every day for perspective pilots. It was Chloe's idea that they tested. Her sister had always been more patriotic than her.

"Hello, Marcy," she called out to a passing medical officer. Her thick Irish accent was an oddity among the Sydney Shatterdome, the only other person from the Emerald Isle was her sister.

"Good morning, Evangeline," the medical officer called back. Eva had known Doctor Dinnae since she'd been in Sydney. She had been the one to do both Eva and Chloe's physical exam. Eva had found the woman to be extremely likeable and warm, like a long lost aunt.

"Have you seen Chloe?" she asked the older woman.

Dr. Dinnae thought for a moment before responding, "I think she's in the gymnasium. She had a look when she went inside."

"Oh no, not a look," her sister's moods could be harrowing. "Did it look like a bad one?"

"Well she almost tore off Matthew's head, so I'm going to go with yeah," she sighed.

"Great," she drew out the word with her own sigh. Eva had an inkling of an idea on what had soured her twin's mood. Most likely the same thing that had depressed her. "Well, I'm gonna go find her. Thank ya, doctor," she said with a tired smile.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Probably just needs to let off some steam."

Eva nodded at the doctor before walking past her, continuing on to the gymnasium. The gym wasn't very far off from their room, Chloe had asked for it that way. Less of a walk when she wanted to train.

The sounds of flesh hitting padded matting were audible from the hallway, which was impressive since the door was shut and made of thick steel. Eva pressed the open key on the door's control panel and stepped inside.

Only one person was in the gymnasium, Chloe. She was fighting a hanging punching bag like it had killed her family. Her tightly corded muscle flexed with each wild attack. Chloe's long read hair was waving around her like a wild fire, she hated keeping it short or pulled together. It made her feel trapped.

She hadn't noticed her sister's entrance. Eva snuck over to the far wall and picked up a heavy medicine ball, hoisting it high over her head. She let go of the ball, letting it fall to the ground with loud smack.

Chloe stopped her onslaught of attacks, almost jumping out of her skin from the surprise. Her body twisted around to see the sound's owner. She looked over to see her twin laughing at her fright. Chloe could feel her face becoming beat red.

"What are ya doing!? Ya scared the life outta me!" she whined at her twin.

Eva smiled at her screaming sister, "Oh, I just wanted to see how my favorite sister was doing."

"Well you could have knocked, or said something! Done anything!" Eva's smile grew as her sister continued to fluster. She was so easy to sneak up on.

"But that would take the fun out of it," Eva jumped on her sister, wrapping her freckled arms around her shoulders. "Did ya see that article?" Eva wanted to get to the heart of it quickly. Letting her sister seethe was never a good idea.

"Yes!" she yelled, ripping herself out of Eva's embrace, "Can you believe what those eejits wrote about our machine!?"

"I know it's hard when of ours dies, but you just haf ta- Wait. What?" Eva stopped confused. "Who said what about who?"

"That god forsaken magazine said that our Jaeger was inferior! That it was a ticking time bomb, waitin to explode!"

"The reason you're so off in the head is cause of that stupid editorial?"

"It's not stupid! Some ninny going around saying were not as good as the rest of them doesn't sound stupid to me," Chloe shot back indignantly.

"Didn't you read the cover story?"

"I did. What about it?" she gave her sister a look somewhere between anger and confusion.

"I thought that was why you were upset," Eva explained.

"Why would I be?"

"Because someone died! Another pilot lost his life!" she was flabbergasted at her sister's nonchalant behavior.

"And?" Chloe asked, confused as to why she should care.

"And, what!? One of our own dies and you're not upset at all about it?"

"Why should I be? I didn't know'em." Chloe said with a half-hearted shrug.

"So what if ya did na know'em. He was a pilot. Someone's brother!"

"He wasn't my brother. I mean, I guess it's a shame he's dead, but it's war. It's goen'ta happen," Chloe stated matter of factly.

"I cannot believe you! Someone loses their life trying to protect us! All of us! And all you can care about is some daft opinion piece! What if that was me, huh?! Would ya care then?!" Eva's face was turning as red as her hair.

"That daft opinion piece drug our names through the mud! And it wasn't you, so I'm sorry if I get'ta little tiffed at that and not at the death of a man I never met!"

Evangeline and Chloe glared at each other, each of their green eyes shining with well founded rage. In a huff, both of them turned their backs to each other. Evangeline left the gymnasium without another word, leaving her sister alone with her thoughts.

The twin's thoughts were ablaze with the anger their sibling had stoked with their selfish comments.

Evangeline mind screamed at her callous sister, _"I can't believe the cheek that little dope can spew! Who does she think she is, a freakin queen?! Her damn reputation won't matter if the git's dead!"_

Chloe's thoughts stormed to a similar tune, _"Where does she get off acting like some kind of bastion of moral superiority. I remember when she couldn't give two shites when Roco died! Or Demy! Sure they were just dogs, but they were our babies! And they didn't get nothin!"_

The director of the Sydney Shatterdome stood in front of the Keating twins, his face stony as marble. He wore a well decorated military uniform, each pin an unknown achievement to the twins. A brightly lit monitor hung behind him, showing a map of the southern Pacific Ocean, and a photograph of a monster.

"The Kaiju is a category 3, one of the biggest yet. Its codename is "Trollgre". Has a humanoid form, appears to be covered in long hair."

"Hair?" Chloe cut in, "Didn't know Kaiju's could be like, mammals."

"They can't," the operator quickly took back the lead in the conversation, "As the scientists say, they are pseudo-reptilian, crustaceans. The fact that this thing has hair is a testament to the variety that these beasts can come in," the operator turned from the picture of the Kaiju to the map and continued his briefing, "The Kaiju is currently six miles off the coast of New Zealand."

Chloe interrupted once more, "Why are we going in? Doesn't New Zealand have a Jaeger?" Her sister quickly elbowed her in the gut.

"You, git!" she hushed, "Erratic Driver, and both its pilots were killed three months ago."

"Well sorry!" Chloe shot back a little too loudly, "I don't read every issue of that dumb magazine!"

Her sister countered, in an equally, unnecessarily loud voice, "You read enough to know our freakin ranking, and when you're slammed in a tabloid!" The sisters continued to bicker in front of their superior. Said superior was not amused by their childish behavior.

"Ladies! I'm sorry, do you both need a wee bit of nappy?!" the lead operator yelled in an extremely insulting Irish accent. Normally, mocking someone's native tongue tended to stoke anger like a fire, but the operator's rage shut the girls up quick. "Maybe we should just let the Kaiju get to the land! Because I don't think that you're fit to even wash a control suit at the moment! Let alone pilot a damned Jaeger!"

The girls' faces flushed with embarrassment. Their heads dropped in shame at both of their outbursts. The lead operator regained his composure almost instantly.

He cleared his throat, "Yes, the Jaeger team manning Erratic Driver was killed three months ago, leaving New Zealand without any kind of Jaeger Protection. We had planned on sending Vulcan Specter's crew, but it's currently under repair. We hadn't expected a Kaiju attack near New Zealand this quickly. So that's why we're sending you."

The older man continued to rattle them, "What, no screaming at that?" Both twins shook their heads solemnly. "Good. As I was saying, the Kaiju is currently about six miles off. A key point of your mission is to make sure this thing does not get to the shore. Due to a series of scheduling errors, wreckage clean-up from Erratic Driver is still in progress. The Kaiju's appearance seems to just be a simple brawling type. No secret weapons have been spotted on it, but tread lightly and treat it with caution none the less. Moving on."

The digital map faded and was replaced by the schematics of the twin's Jaeger, Hurricane Meltdown. A top heavy Mark II, colored red with a shape not unlike a lowland gorilla, or the Kaiju it would hunt. Its long arms drooped well down past its knees, ending in large club-like hands. The girl's loved it. They couldn't quite put their finger on it as to why. Maybe it was how massive it was; it being the biggest Mark II ever built. Perhaps its blood red color scheme, or how if you squinted its head almost looked like a grinning monster. If they could agree on one thing they both liked about it, it would be its power. How strong it was compared to others of its Mark, it was strong even compared to the monolithic Mark I's.

The glowing screen zoomed in on the Jaeger's chest. The armor on the front was removed, the digital readout showing the colossal nuclear reactor residing in the center.

The operator continued, "Now, you both know that Hurricane Meltdown's name isn't just a simple moniker. Its reactor is highly unstable and is extremely susceptible to meltdown." Chloe and Eva gave each other a knowing glance. Meltdown's flawed existence was something they were reminded about every day.

"We've done our best to try work around this liability. Adding extra armor around the reactor itself. Equipping it with long range weapons to minimize the chance of damage. However, we all know what was in mind when this Jaeger was built," the operator smiled, "Pure up close and personal destruction." The twins grinned.

"Long range weaponry didn't work well on account of your Jaeger's overall design. Mounted guns couldn't be made to stay from its sloped shoulders," the operator swiped at the screen, changing it back to a full body shot.

"Internal guns got in the way of key systems, and the reactor. You're going to have to fight this thing like you're used to. Does that sound alright to the both of you? Or do we have to argue the semantics of that as well?" the operator gave the twins one last jab.

"Yes sir!" they both gave a hearty salute before realizing what they said, "Uhhh, no sir! Wait…."

The operator gave a hearty laugh at their confusion.

Hurricane Meltdown sloughed through the deep waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean, the bright sun hung high overhead. Despite its primate-like gate, it kept itself above the crashing waves without much trouble. Its jagged head sat well above the water line; its monstrous visage reflecting from the shining sea.

Chloe and Evangeline had managed to synch in the mental stream well enough upon launch. Even though anger towards each other still burned in their brains, they knew well enough how to both share and repress the volatile emotion. It was hard to be mad at someone if that someone was sharing a thinking with you.

They had been trudging through the Pacific for dozens of minutes before seeing the Kaiju. The carrier craft had been slow on transportation, letting the Kaiju get closer to land than anyone would have liked. It moved through the water with surprising speed, its gait showed everyone how similar it was in appearance to Meltdown.

"Control," Chloe speaking into the microphone in front of her, "We have sight on the Kaiju. It's still in the water."

_"Engage at will. Do not let it get to land,"_ the operator on the other line responded.

"You got it boss," she said more to herself than to the operator.

"How do you want to take this?" Eva asked.

"Well, it doesn't look like much," Chloe eyed the beast, "Just a big beasty that needs putting down."

Eva gave her a thin eyed glance, "Knifehead 'didn't look like much' and look what happened to Yancy."

"Oh come off it! You never even met the guy! Besides didn't that one sneak up on them, at night in the rain?!" She gestured as well as she could with her gloved hands over to the lumbering giant, "But, if you couldn't tell, it is bright and sunny. It's also right freaking there, so let's kill it before it gets to shore!" Her movements caused Hurricane Meltdown to point the Kaiju.

"I'm just saying we should still be careful," Eva seethed out, trying to ignore her sister's tirade.

They both went silent and crept towards the hunched over Kaiju. Its "hair" hung loosely over its scabby hide like wet noodles. Two massive horns jutted out from the sides of its head, pointing in front of it like a steer. Trollgre didn't seem to notice the gigantic monstrous mech standing right behind it.

"Engaging," Chloe said. Eva nodded in wary agreement. Hurricane Meltdown quickened its pace to catch up the hulking Kaiju, and grabbed at its shoulders with both of its titanic hands. Its thick fingers sank into the soggy "hair" on the Kaiju's back; Meltdown turned the Kaiju to face it.

Trollgre's horrifying face matched Hurricane Meltdown's own. The Kaiju's beady eyes stared passed the Jaeger like it wasn't even there. The Keating twins rose one of Meltdown's long arms over the Kaiju and slammed down, trying to crush the thing's misshapen skull.

The Kaiju wrenched itself from their single handed grip, and shoved at Jaeger, moving it back several hundred feet. The Kaiju then, in a head scratching move, turned around and continued moving toward land.

The twins looked at each other, their mouths hung agape. What was it doing? Weren't Kaiju supposed to be kill crazy? They hadn't fought one before, but they were sure it wasn't supposed to be acting like this.

"What is it doing?" Eva said, befuddled.

"It's makin a run for it! Get after the bastard!"

The Jaeger straightened itself and ran after the meandering Kaiju. It moved into a tackling position and shouldered Trollgre in the back, plunging it into the water. The twins saw its arms move to try and drag itself forward.

"Would you just sit still and fight!?" Chloe yelled.

"Ya know, I've never heard of a cowardly Kaiju," Eva said wryly.

Hurricane Meltdown grabbed at the Kaiju's flailing arms, one of its meaty claws swiped at the Jaeger's head, landing a glancing blow. Eva and Chloe both shook in the control pod, the diagnostics readout showed only superficial damage.

"Keep going!" Eva yelled. Meltdown punched down into the Kaiju's submerged head. They felt contact with something, but the Kaiju's continued thrashing told them it wasn't enough. It drew back again for another downward punch before Trollgre pushed up with horrendous strength, and threw them off into the water.

It pushed itself back up and maintained its progress towards the land, which, it was getting quite close to. If it kept on at its current pace, it would most likely reach the shore in only a handful of minutes.

If one were to look at the clean-up crew, at this time, they would see a few dozen trained military men scrambling to clean up and run for their lives, like chickens with their heads cut off.

The twins were livid within their pod. Anger flowed through the neural link from one mind to another, fueling their rage in tandem. They took a step forward and then charged the asinine monster.

Hurricane Meltdown was not necessarily built to jump into the air, but it could in a pinch. The Keatings threw themselves into the back of Trollgre, slamming an unthinkable amount of tons onto its body. Trollgre's heavy shoulders cracked under the pressure, but still kept up its escape.

"Activate Joint Rocket's!" they yelled in unison. The readout next to their view finders showed a small image of a cartoony arm in the corner of its screen. Fire spewed from the back of Meltdown's elbows and propelled each of them forwards.

Mechanical fists rained down on the Kaiju's back and head. The twins weren't aiming for any kind of vital spots, just for the Kaiju itself. The impact of the wave of attacks shook the control pod with each punch.

"I think we've got it!" Chloe happily exclaimed.

Trollgre, almost like it heard her, reared up like a bull and threw the Jaeger, once more, from its back. It shook of the damage like it was nothing, ignoring their advance entirely. Its long horns moved toward the beach with the rest of its massive form behind.

Hurricane Meltdown had move out of the water fast, as to not let any water in any possible hull breaches. Its reactor was already unstable, water would only make the walking train wreck even worse.

_"What are you two doing?! Get in front of it, take it down!" _The operation's manager was just as angry as the pilots.

The Keatings kept still in the pod. Fury was etched across their features, unable to move from the rage boiling up to their surface. Anger bread itself into more anger. Without any kind of middle ground or opposing force within, the mind will continue to burn itself until there's nothing left but ash.

"Remove the outer shell," they whispered to the Jaeger's AI. The sound of things unclamping and scraping metal filled the pod. Outside, the Jaeger's outer armor was being dropped into the ocean, like unneeded chaff. The operator's voice came rang over the crashing metal.

_"Be careful you two. Your core is even more exposed now. One hit might send you into a full shutdown. The possibility of a meltdown has been exponentially increased." _The operator was ignored by the twins.

Silently, they shook the rest of the superfluous casing from their machine's body. Without the extra armor, Hurricane Meltdown, could move as fast as the storm it was named for. Its design was focused entirely on killing whatever was in front of it as quickly as possible, the only drawback being that unstable core.

Trollgre's black eyes could see its target. On the sandy beach, Erratic Driver's destroyed body was sprawled about, the clean-up team having finally fled. It quickened its pace to the Jaeger, ready to do what it was made for.

A shadow appeared behind its back, but was ignored like everything else; nothing would stop it. A swift kick to the back sent it reeling forward. Before it could try and move away from the unseen threat, the shadow moved in front of it, dealing another nimble kick to its horned head.

Hurricane Meltdown grabbed at the Kaiju's horns as it tried correcting its stance. It pushed back against the beast and began twisting the horns in its metal hands. The Keatings pulled the Kaiju's head forward, head-butting it in the middle of its face. The pilots screamed defiantly at the dazed monster.

Meltdown rocketed its left, and then right, hand into its gaping maw. It pushed the Kaiju further back into the Pacific with a flurry of jabs. As Trollgre's head moved back to try and get back on track to its mission, Meltdown grabbed at its horns again. It cracked the protrusions from the Kaiju's head like a cracker, and jabbed them into its thick neck.

"Die!" the twins screamed at the dying Kaiju, "Just die!" They pulled the broken horns from its thick hide and plunged them into the Kaiju's eye sockets. A roar of escaped Trollgre's twisted mouth, the twins relished in Trollgre's death-rattle. The body fell still as the bellow finished. Chloe and Eva weren't fazed by the Kaiju's lack of movement and kept on thrusting into the corpse.

The detached horn had shattered into chitin, the girls taking the opportunity to pull the beast apart. It threw each bit of Kaiju into the ocean around them. The greasy "hair" on the Kaiju's head was ripped free, along with the bits of skull, and thrown to the side.

_"Um… girls?" _the operator called into the control pod. _"Its vital scans show its dead… You- you can stop now." _The operator was ignored. _"Chloe? Eva? Can you hear me?"_

"Shut up!" they yelled, continuing to mutilate the Kaiju.

At the Shatterdome, the operator looked over at the technicians and the head operator behind him.

"What do we do now?" he said, motioning toward the monitor.

The lead operator spoke surely, "Continue with the clean-up of Erratic Driver. Send out a team to deal with the Kaiju's remains when they're done."

"Should we let them keep going like that?"

"No, shut them down. They're going to do more damage to themselves than the Kaiju did like that," the head operator shook his head at his pilots' behavior.

Another scream echoed over the intercom.

On the sandy New Zealand beach, the body of Erratic Driver laid apart. Metal scraps dotted the areas in between the more put together pieces of wreckage. The tide had begun to come in on the mech, bits of seaweed and salt water stuck itself to the metal hull. Bits of Kaiju hair had also gotten into Erratic Driver's destroyed body, sticking to the dilapidated robot like glue.

Trollgre had succeeded.


	3. Prison Break (Gathering Storms Part 3)

Two men watched the bustling prison courtyard from a digitized screen in a walled off, back room. They were both older men, age marked their faces without remorse. Each were dressed in formal attire, suits much nicer than you'd normally see in a high security prison.

One of them was sitting at a desk, working the cameras above the courtyard. His wrinkled hands slowly went over the keys, occasionally the mouse would be moved above an inmate's image, causing a readout on the inmate's history to pop up.

The other man watched the screen intently, his eyes scanned the bodies presented by his host. They looked descent enough, nothing spectacular, but they'd have to do. He hoped at least, the last one he'd gotten from here had barely lasted through a single fight.

"What about that one?" the standing man asked in his native Spanish. He pointed at a man currently under the computer's cursor. A heavily muscled man, tattoos all over his body, an angry glare in his eyes.

"Prisoner #45430. Jorge Amando, charged with three counts of armed robbery. Unknown gang affiliations, violent temper, has already been in three altercations with other prisoners since his sentence began, little more than three months ago," the man at the desk rattled off the prisoner's data in an apathetic tone. He'd done this many times before, and he would have to do it again later.

"Hard to control?" the standing man asked.

"Definitely. Not worth your time Julio. Besides, I don't think this one has the capacity to read, let alone alleviate your burden." The sitting man was almost glib with his tone, but still kept his voice emotionally level.

"Then move on to the next please," Julio curtly prompted. The other man nodded.

He tapped along, going over a variety of other colorful characters in extreme detail. He covered everything from their personality, to their blood type, all the way down to where their childhood home was located and what they enjoyed doing in their free time.

After the fifteenth inmate, Julio stopped the man. He bent down to get a better look at the screen. The monitor was lit with the face of a man named Raoul Acosta. He was a wiry looking boy, barely old enough to even be in a penitentiary. He had the standard tattoos that Julio was used to seeing. His greasy black hair was slicked back over a thin face marked with patchy facial hair.

"What about him?" Julio asked.

The man tapped the keys, "Prisoner #54331, Raoul Acosta. Age 19, incarcerated two months ago for drug trafficking. He was picked up near the border of the states. Got caught with a couple kilos of dope. Surprised the cartel hasn't gotten to him yet."

"How's he been so far?"

"To be frank," the man started, "Scared shitless. He hasn't left his cell of his own free will since he's been here. Only reason he's out there now is on account of you." The desk man kept tabs on every inmate in his prison. No matter how minor a crook they may have been.

"But no back talk? No violence?" Julio's voice had a little hope peeking out. This kid might be what he needed.

"Nothing of the sort," he turned to look back, "You think this kid's the choice? Doesn't look particularly reliable."

"He's exactly what I need, Joseph. Look at those eyes." He pointed at the screen. Raoul's eyes were bloodshot to the point of a burst blood vessel. His pupils shifted left to right every few seconds, the jittery kid looked like he was about to explode. "That is fear. That is deep seated paranoia. Paranoia is useful, you know. It means they're always watching, and waiting for something bad to happen. And you know that is exactly what I'm looking for," Julio smiled, his laugh lines stretched out naturally, "I think he'll do just fine."

Raoul was taken in the night. A team of men silently entered his cell and injected him with something that would keep him asleep. His hands and feet were bound; his head was covered with a sack cloth. He was carried away from the cells on one of the men's shoulders like a sack of flower. None of the guards stopped the men, they didn't even pay attention to them. Other prisoners were either asleep or turned their heads in fear. Better him than them they thought.

The men left the prison into the fairly desolate landscape of western Mexico. They marched for over an hour to an unmarked van; Raoul was thrown inside without a word. The impact on the van's cold metal woke him from his chemically induced sleep.

The drivers felt Raoul thrash around in the back, as his violent claustrophobia kicked in. He threw his body into the sides of the back cabin, and strained his arms and legs to break the zip ties holding him. Muffled screams were ignored by the stoic drivers.

The ride only took about thirty minutes. In that time, Raoul had only managed to half-way pull off the bag on his head. The van stopped, going from 60 to 0 in almost a second, throwing Raoul back into the doors. His covered head rolled out as they were roughly pulled open. The bag on his head was yanked off by large, meaty hands, revealing several heavily armed men standing in a line outside.

An older man stood in the center of them, his expensive suit was marked by the dirt kicked up by the wind. A large crucifix was visible from inside his black suit jacket. He was smiling at Raoul, his perfectly squared teeth looked unnatural to the tied up criminal. He walked forward, and leaned down to meet Raoul's shaking eyes. The man removed his gag, and helped him into a sitting position. A pocket knife was taken from his silk pockets, and cut the bindings holding Raoul.

"I d-didn't mean to get caught man! It wasn't my fault! It was Tonio, he was a snitch!" Raoul was expecting the cartel. He didn't think that they'd be this thorough with him. A shank to the gut would have been better than this creepy Men in Black act.

"I'm not from the cartel, Raoul," the old man spoke in a very soft voice. He gave him a smile that unnerved Raoul. His teeth were too straight, too square.

"Then who are you man?" Raoul asked shakily, "What do you want?" Raoul hadn't dealt with this kind of thing before. Sure he'd seen men shot in the street, kids mugging each other, and the occasional car bomb, but this was scarier than everything he'd ever seen combined.

"My name his Julio Carrillo, and I want you to help me, son. Help the world." he sat down next to Raoul on the van, putting his arm around the boy's thin shoulders. The criminal shrunk at the man's touch. He continued, "You're about to be a part of the biggest thing you'll ever know. Tell me, Raoul Acosta," he tapped on his chest, "What do you know about the Jaeger Program?"

There was a very long silence, "…What?" Confusion spread across his face, like he'd been slapped with a fish. He nervously eyed the men standing around them, zeroing in on their guns. He gulped, "Like, the… the giant robots?" Julio nodded. "Yeah, I know about'em. I-I mean who don't?" he pretended to laugh. Neither Julio or the other men laughed. Raoul scratched at his neck, his sweat making him itch, "Wh-What about it, man?"

"Raoul, do you know how a Jaeger is piloted?" Julio asked. He hoped that he knew something regarding the program. Something he'd heard on the television or the internet. Depending on whatever backwater slum he grew up in, he might need to go into detail, and Julio didn't feel like wasting time.

Raoul gave another weak spirited laugh, "Uh… Not much. I mean there has to be two of them, right? Two pilots, I mean."

Julio smiled, at least he wasn't completely ignorant. "Yes, exactly! There has to be two pilots. Now tell me, did you see the news last week? You may have missed it on account of your… incarceration." He did his best to not condescend.

Raoul shifted his eyes down, "Nah, I- I didn't catch it. We ah- we don't got TVs in our jail." There actually had been televisions in the prison, despite being a high security prison, an inmate could sign up for TV time easily if they showed good behavior. But TV time required inmates to leave their cells, and that was a chance that Raoul was not willing to take. He'd seen the way the cartel's inside guys looked at him.

Julio nodded along with the boy's lie, he knew the truth, but why cause unnecessary trouble. "Doesn't matter," Julio quickly shoved the point under the rug and continued, "A week ago there was a Kaiju attack off the coast of this country. During the conflict, one of this country's Jaegers was sent to dispatch it, and one of its pilots was injured in the melee."

"Oh, well that's uh… rough I guess," Raoul not getting the message.

"Those injuries lead to his death."

Raoul's eyes shocked open to attention. The feel of the armed gunmen's eyes worked their way over his body. He tried to salvage his statement, "Uhhh, oh! I'm sorry about that, man- I mean sir! I-I uh, didn't know."

"It's not a problem, Raoul. There was nothing that could have been done. The Kaiju was stopped and the other pilot survived, so it wasn't a total loss." A callous tone snuck into Julio's speech. "I'm going to cut to the chase, Raoul." His body took on a more series pose. "That pilot is myself." He stopped for Raoul's slight gasp, before continuing. "My partner is now incapable of piloting, and I- no, the entire world needs a new one to protect them from those encroaching devils. And I think," Julio tapped Raoul's chest again, "That, that person should be you."

A speechless Raoul stared, dumbfounded, at the pilot. His mouth hung slightly ajar at the ridiculous statement. He was just some guy. Hell, he wasn't even that, he was a mule. A failed mule at that, caught on account of paranoid delusions brought on by sampling the product a few to many times. He really needed to stop doing that….

Raoul finally responded, "W-Why me?" His tone was genuinely confused. Julio was cut off from his answer by Raoul. He wasn't done. "I don't got any of that kinda training, man. You seriously think I could make one of those big-ass tin cans move? Look at me man," he laughed a little bit, "I'm not strong, or smart. Shit, I can't even do a simple job like drive a truck without messin it up with me gettin scared of nothin. I can't even get fuckin high right, man." His head dropped. He had forgotten about the question, and let out a little more than he meant to.

Julio sighed quietly and spoke in a softened tone, "There is nothing wrong with worrying about something. Worry is a necessary part of living. Without it we would have spiraled into extinction years ago. Your worry, Raoul, is why I need you. My Jaeger operates differently than others. It only needs one person to control its movements, but another person is still required to help with the neural load."

"And you want me to be that guy?" Raoul asked, uncertain. "Ya really think I'd be good for that, man?"

"You would be perfect," Julio gave him a wide grin.

"What about… ya know, me being locked up? They gonna be okay with you takin me?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, my boy!" Julio laughed, "That's already been taken care of."

Raoul looked at his lap for a moment, thinking. More worry had begun to worm its way back into his brain, "Do you really think people are gonna take kindly to me helping you," he was doing his best to gulp down his fear, "I mean you're gettin me outta here, but I'm still a bad guy, man…."

Julio took his arm from around Raoul, and grabbed the crucifix from under his jacket. He held it with careful reverence. "Raoul, do you believe in God?"

Raoul took the man's seemingly random question in stride, "I guess. I go to church. Well I did. It's been a while. But…. I don't know, yeah. Yeah I guess I do. He has to with all this happening to me."

"Yes Raoul, God does exist," Julio was very serious, "And he is willing to forgive even the most heinous of sinners. Raoul, think of your work with me as a penance for your past misdeeds. And when you are done you will be forgiven. By God and by everyone."

Julio sat in the observation room of the Acapulco Shatterdome. He watched Raoul through an observation camera. The young man had been fitted into a specialized piloting suit, much larger than a normal set. A face obscuring helmet covered his head, thin wires arced over him into the flashing lights above. They'd been running tests on him for several hours, making sure he was compatible with the Jaeger. Certain people's brainwaves could cause the AI to reject them. So far everything had been going smoothly.

The older man spoke into an intercom, his voice echoing into the piloting chamber, "How do you feel Raoul?"

A thumbs up was given to the camera, Raoul's voice followed from his head set, "I'm good. You sure all I've gotta do is just think real hard?"

"Absolutely," Julio responded, truthfully.

Julio could make out a tiny smile popping out from the bottom of Raoul's helmet, "Well if that's it man, then I'm ready!"

A woman walked into the observation room, she wore a pristine lab coat over a simple set of clothes. She sat next to Julio, and spoke in a thick German accent.

"Are you sure he is right for this?" her voice was very cold, almost emotionless.

"Positive. His compatibility score couldn't have been better," Julio didn't bother looking at the woman, he kept his eyes on the camera feed and computer readouts.

"Will he be able to handle the load for long enough? The last one only lasted two outings. And that's counting the test run." She picked up a few of the readouts next to the older man. The test results were very good.

"This one is different," Julio's voice turned sour, "Besides the last one you brought me was just an idiot you pulled off the street. It's no wonder he only lasted that long."

"Our survey corps can only do so much, Mr. Carrillo. We can't be digging through prisons all night, like some," the woman shot back, snidely.

"I take them from there so no one will miss them," Julio exclaimed, finally facing the woman, "I give them a chance to make amends."

"By annihilating their minds?" Another jibe came from the woman.

"By letting them atone for whatever sins they may have committed. They're better off with me than rotting in some jail cell."

The woman rose an eyebrow, "You really believe that, don't you?"

Julio's frown deepened into an angry grimace, "Dr. Fleischer, the new pilot and I still have some tests to run. Could you please come back later?" His frown transformed into a phony smile. The doctor rolled her eyes and picked herself up from her seat.

"You have fun Julio, call me if he drops dead," she flippantly waved her hand before walking out of the room.

Julio gave a deep sigh before pressing the intercoms switch, "Raoul, I'm just going to need one or two more tests before we end, okay?"


End file.
